Skip to content

Let a provider customize the HTTP client the OAuth flow uses - #560

Merged
koic merged 1 commit into
modelcontextprotocol:mainfrom
koic:let_a_provider_customize_the_oauth_http_client
Sep 18, 2026
Merged

koic merged 1 commit into
modelcontextprotocol:mainfrom
koic:let_a_provider_customize_the_oauth_http_client

Conversation

@koic

@koic koic commented Sep 18, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

Motivation and Context

MCP::Client::OAuth::Flow takes an http_client_factory:, but MCP::Client::HTTP builds the flow itself and passes none, so an application using oauth: could not add middleware to the requests the flow makes: Protected Resource Metadata and authorization server metadata discovery, dynamic client registration, and every token request. The block that customizes the transport's Faraday connection does not help, because that connection is bound to the MCP server URL and carries the headers: meant for that server, and the authorization server is a different origin. The TypeScript SDK hands the transport's fetch to auth() and the Python SDK sends the provider's requests through the transport's httpx client, so both let an application instrument these requests; this SDK did not. (#558)

Providers now take http_client_customizer:, a callable invoked with the Faraday connection the flow builds for its own requests, next to the other callables a provider already holds. It runs after the SDK's defaults (Accept: application/json, no redirect following) and between two middlewares of the SDK's own: Flow::RequestedURLStamp, registered before the customizer is invoked, records the URL the flow asked for on the request environment, and Flow::RequestedOriginGuard, registered last, sees what the customizer's middleware did to the request after that record. A request that would leave that origin, by following a redirect or rewriting the URL, or that arrives without the record, is refused with Flow::DestinationMismatchError before it reaches the adapter. The record lives on the environment rather than in env.request.context, which stays the application's to fill or replace. The error is an ArgumentError rather than an AuthorizationError so neither discovery nor the transport's refresh fallback can absorb a configuration mistake. The boundary resembles the one the Python SDK keeps for its own requests, which follows a redirect only within the origin; this flow follows none itself. Flow.build_http_client assembles that connection and Flow.new(http_client_factory:) keeps replacing it whole. Following done inside an adapter cannot be seen by any guard, so the documentation keeps that, Accept-Encoding, and raise_error off the list of things a customizer may add, and notes that a recording middleware sees client credentials and tokens.

Fixes #558.

How Has This Been Tested?

New tests in test/mcp/client/oauth/flow_test.rb, test/mcp/client/oauth/http_oauth_test.rb, and the three provider test files. Against the library before this change, every one of them fails, on the unknown keyword or on the missing reader.

Breaking Changes

None. The customizer is opt-in, and the guard cannot fire on the SDK's own middleware-free connection.

Types of changes

  • Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
  • New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
  • Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)
  • Documentation update

Checklist

  • I have read the MCP Documentation
  • My code follows the repository's style guidelines
  • New and existing tests pass locally
  • I have added appropriate error handling
  • I have added or updated documentation as needed

@koic
koic force-pushed the let_a_provider_customize_the_oauth_http_client branch from 33a2bbf to e1c73ef Compare September 18, 2026 02:41
## Motivation and Context

`MCP::Client::OAuth::Flow` takes an `http_client_factory:`, but `MCP::Client::HTTP` builds
the flow itself and passes none, so an application using `oauth:` could not add middleware to
the requests the flow makes: Protected Resource Metadata and authorization server metadata discovery,
dynamic client registration, and every token request.
The block that customizes the transport's Faraday connection does not help,
because that connection is bound to the MCP server URL and carries the `headers:` meant for that server,
and the authorization server is a different origin. The TypeScript SDK hands the transport's `fetch` to `auth()`
and the Python SDK sends the provider's requests through the transport's httpx client, so both let
an application instrument these requests; this SDK did not. (modelcontextprotocol#558)

Providers now take `http_client_customizer:`, a callable invoked with the Faraday connection
the flow builds for its own requests, next to the other callables a provider already holds.
It runs after the SDK's defaults (`Accept: application/json`, no redirect following) and
between two middlewares of the SDK's own: `Flow::RequestedURLStamp`, registered before the customizer is invoked,
records the URL the flow asked for on the request environment, and `Flow::RequestedOriginGuard`, registered last,
sees what the customizer's middleware did to the request after that record. A request that would leave that origin,
by following a redirect or rewriting the URL, or that arrives without the record, is refused with
`Flow::DestinationMismatchError` before it reaches the adapter. The record lives on the environment rather than
in `env.request.context`, which stays the application's to fill or replace. The error is an `ArgumentError`
rather than an `AuthorizationError` so neither discovery nor the transport's refresh fallback can absorb
a configuration mistake. The boundary resembles the one the Python SDK keeps for its own requests,
which follows a redirect only within the origin; this flow follows none itself.
`Flow.build_http_client` assembles that connection and `Flow.new(http_client_factory:)` keeps replacing it whole.
Following done inside an adapter cannot be seen by any guard, so the documentation keeps that, `Accept-Encoding`,
and `raise_error` off the list of things a customizer may add, and notes that a recording middleware sees
client credentials and tokens.

Fixes modelcontextprotocol#558.

## How Has This Been Tested?

New tests in `test/mcp/client/oauth/flow_test.rb`, `test/mcp/client/oauth/http_oauth_test.rb`,
and the three provider test files. Against the library before this change, every one of them fails,
on the unknown keyword or on the missing reader.

## Breaking Changes

None. The customizer is opt-in, and the guard cannot fire on the SDK's own middleware-free connection.
@koic
koic force-pushed the let_a_provider_customize_the_oauth_http_client branch from e1c73ef to c9f381a Compare September 18, 2026 04:04
@kstevens715

Copy link
Copy Markdown

This works for our case — thanks for turning it around so quickly.

Putting http_client_customizer: on the provider is a better shape than the factory keyword I suggested in #558: we construct the provider anyway, so there's nothing to thread through the transport, and it covers discovery and registration rather than just the token requests.

Our middleware is observation-only — it adds no redirect following, doesn't set Accept-Encoding, doesn't add raise_error, and doesn't rewrite the URL — so it sits inside the constraints RequestedOriginGuard enforces.

Together with #555, this closes both of the blockers that kept us off oauth:.

@koic
koic merged commit 5f429f3 into modelcontextprotocol:main Sep 18, 2026
11 checks passed
@koic
koic deleted the let_a_provider_customize_the_oauth_http_client branch September 18, 2026 23:00
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

MCP::Client::HTTP gives no way to reach Flow's http_client_factory

2 participants